


wait

by lionofsounis



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal, i list all these other characters but lbr its mostly adrien and marinette, this is the sappiest thing i have ever written who am i
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 00:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionofsounis/pseuds/lionofsounis
Summary: Wait, don't go. Wait, I'll save you and I'm sorry for not being there for you. Wait, let me catch up, sorry I'm late. Wait, stay with me. Wait, don't leave me here alone. Wait, don't die because I can't do this without you. Wait, I can't be Ladybug without my Chat. Wait, I can't live without you.





	1. wait

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write something abt chat dying in marinette's arms bc im a monster. also i love the idea of marinette being fiercely protective of chat and also the idea that she'd give up her identity in a snap to save him anYWAY i hate all these thoughts and this has been in my drafts forever bc of that.
> 
> also bc of the ending its so damn sappy who am i

Their suits are magical -- supposedly indestructible, and capable of keeping them from feeling pain -- but Marinette supposes the usual rules may not apply when you're facing an absolute _giant_ of an akuma with an equally magical, six foot long sword.

 

It all starts when class goes to a Renaissance Faire for a field trip. As per the usual, everyone’s enjoying themselves till Chloé decides to bad-mouth the resident blacksmith because “swords are so _lame!_ Why couldn't we take a field trip somewhere cool for once?”

 

Long story short, that's where the giant sword comes from.

 

The class scatters almost immediately, but Marinette can still pick out most of them. She can hear Chloé complaining from where she and Sabrina are hiding (behind that wooden chest to her right), and Ivan’s unfortunately obvious behind a much too small tree. Max has jumped into a barrel, Kim’s feet are poking out from underneath a tent flap, and Alix is running as fast as she can in the opposite direction, which is pretty darn fast. Mylène and Nathaniel are nowhere to be seen. Neither is Adrien, which sets her heart pounding, but there’s no time to worry about that now.

 

Marinette is right out in the open, with Alya behind her. As always, Nino isn’t too far behind (where _is_ Adrien? she could swear he was just right there). She can hear Rose squeaking in fright as she follows Juleka away from the scene.

 

Chat Noir has appeared, and is currently trying to fence against a broadsword wielder using his baton. Marinette kind of wants to roll her eyes because she can hear the puns from here and because broadsword fighting is nothing like fencing and _what_ on _earth_ is Chat doing? But she’s distracted by searching desperately for a way to escape and transform while Alya’s hand is clamped on her arm.

 

“Yes! Chat Noir is here! But where's Ladybug?”

 

 _If you'd let go of her arm she'd be here!_ Marinette wants to scream.

 

Well, Chat can take care himself for a little while, she thinks. Besides, she can already tell the akuma’s in the metalworking tongs hanging from the belt ‘Ironside’ is wearing. It shouldn't be too hard to disarm him.

 

And then, suddenly, the battle takes a turn for the worse.

 

“Oh ew!” comes Chloé’s voice. Of course it would be Chloé. “There's grease all over this crate! My sweater is ruined!”

 

She jumps up from her hiding place and Marinette groans.

 

The akuma swivels, setting his sights on the person who started this disaster in the first place. Marinette sees Chat’s eyes go wide.

 

“Hey!” he yelps. “I know Chloé's a pain, but wouldn't you rather have my Miraculous?”

 

The akuma frowns back at him. “Are you offering it?” he rumbles in his deep voice.

 

“Of course not, but you're never gonna get it by fighting an obnoxious teenager.”

 

Marinette scoffs. As if Chat himself isn’t the definition of an obnoxious teenager.

 

Ironside seems to consider this. “I'll get your Miraculous,” he says calmly. “But first I'll get revenge.” And he continues after Chloé.

 

Chloé doesn't seem to notice the danger she's in -- she's still muttering over her sweater, complaining that Ladybug hasn't come to save her yet. Sabrina hauls on her friend's arm, but the other girl pays her no mind, and Sabrina scrambles away as the akuma approaches.

 

Panic is coursing through Marinette's veins. Her heart is in her stomach. She's no fan of Chloé, of course, but she also can't let the girl get skewered.

 

Alya finally lets go of her arm, her hand going up to her mouth with a gasp, but there’s no time for Marinette to hide and transform.

 

Her eyes dart across to Chat. His face is a reflection of her own emotions.

 

The akuma pulls back his sword arm.

 

 _“HEY!”_ Chat bellows, drawing the akuma’s -- and everyone else’s -- gaze. He hurls his baton, hard.

 

It strikes the akuma between the eyes, David and Goliath style, but the giant only stumbles, rather than falling.

 

The baton skitters away, sliding into a pile of scrap metal.

 

Marinette bolts forward. “Chloé! Get away!”

 

The blonde girl finally seems to take in her surroundings, and speeds off in the direction Sabrina just took, though rather than continuing, she hides behind the smithy and peeks out at the battle.

 

It all takes place in a matter of seconds, but it feels more like slow motion: like Marinette can see everything happen before it actually does.

 

While Marinette dashes forward to warn Chloé, and Chloé dashes away to hide, and Ironside stumbles, disoriented, Chat Noir springs forward, diving into a slide that carries him between the akuma's legs. He jumps to his feet, and while the giant is turning, he snatches the akumatized tongs from his belt. The move is so smooth and quick that if Marinette didn't know better she'd wonder why Chat even needed Ladybug.

 

The akuma, looking for him, swivels back to his original course, and Marinette realizes that now she's in his path, too.

 

The akuma practically growls at them.

 

“Get out of here, Princess!”

 

Chat's voice sounds far away, and what comes next feels like Marinette's watching her own life happen to someone else.

 

Just three seconds tick by but it feels like days.

 

In those three seconds, the akuma moves his sword, Marinette tenses for the impact, and then there's a black and gold blur and Chat Noir is in front of her.

 

She hears him grunt softly, and there’s a wet sort of crunch as the blade meets the spot just below his ribs, a little to the left.

 

But she doesn't process the sound until she sees the metal tip protruding from her partner's back, dripping with something dark and red and horrifying.

 

That's Chat's blood, she thinks stupidly, Chat’s bleeding.

 

Chat’s going to die.

 

The suits are supposed to be indestructible, something in her brain says.

 

Chat is going to die, she thinks.

 

_Chat is going to die._

 

There's another slick squelch as the blade disappears from her view. She hears Chat exhale noisily, just once.

 

Her own blood is roaring in her ears. Marinette can hear someone breathe, ragged and fast and gasping. She doesn't realize that it's her.

 

Chat tumbles backward and she catches him, lowering him to the ground gently, cradling him in her arms while he bleeds.

 

He tries to push the tongs into her hand. “Get… these to… to Lady… Ladybug.”

 

“No,” she hears herself say. Her voice is hoarse and scared. She thinks she should be crying and she doesn’t know why she isn’t. “No, wait. Chat, _wait.”_

 

The desperately throbbing ‘wait' means a hundred different things that she doesn't have time to explain. It means _wait, don't go._ It means _wait, I'll save you_ and _I'm sorry for not being there for you._ It means _wait, let me catch up, sorry I'm late._ It means _wait, stay with me. Wait, don't leave me here alone. Wait, don't die because I can't do this without you. Wait, I can't be Ladybug without my Chat. Wait, I can't live without you._

 

It's not romantic or anything, she thinks. But in any case, she can't. She can't live without him.

 

The end of Chat Noir would be the end of Ladybug. That's just how it is. There’s no such thing as a coin with only one side.

 

He doesn't know why her voice sounds the way it does, and he looks at her in confusion.

 

But she already knows exactly what she has to do.

 

Right there, in front of her entire class and the akuma and Chat Noir himself, Marinette speaks:

 

_“Tikki, spots on.”_

 

There's a flash of pink. The akuma steps back in surprise, lowering his sword, but she knows his distraction won't last long. At least they've already got the akumatized item.

 

Chat starts violently when he sees her, then groans in pain.

 

“Careful! Don't move!”

 

“Ladybug?”

 

She doesn't reply to him. “Lucky charm!” she cries desperately, and a spotted hammer drops down beside her. She's fumbling with her yoyo, trying to tug the tongs out of his hand at the same time.

 

_“Ladybug?”_

 

She doesn't look at him. She won't look at him while he's dying because he isn't _going_ to die. He’s going to be okay. He’s going to be okay even though Ladybug showed up way too late and could’ve been there for him sooner if she hadn’t been worrying about her identity. He's going to be okay because this is her fault so she's going to fix it. This is her fault and he is _not_ going to die because of her.

 

He's _not_.

 

She smashes the hammer savagely against the tongs. They break cleanly at the hinge and a glowing black butterfly emerges from the pieces.

 

She can hear Chat's death rattle from her lap.

 

He has less than a minute maybe, she thinks. She's not paying attention but the akuma shakes himself and hefts his sword again.

 

She doesn't see Alya, who has been completely dumbfounded by the revelation of Ladybug’s identity, snap out of it. She doesn't see her best friend take a hint from Chat Noir and scream to distract the monster. She doesn't see it work, or see Alya's phone sail through the air and connect with Ironside’s left eye. She doesn't see Nino catch on and do the same, or any of the stuff her other classmates throw at the akuma.

 

All she sees through the tears that are finally coming is her yoyo spinning and the butterfly flying away, now pure and white.

 

“Miraculous Ladybug,” she chokes out, casting the hammer upwards. It's a weak throw, but it's all she can manage, and it's enough.

 

For a split second, the world is bathed in white light. When it dissipates, she's already staring at Chat's injured stomach.

 

But the blood is gone. The tear in his magical suit is gone. The shredded flesh underneath it is whole.

 

He coughs and sits up a little, poking at his side as if checking himself for holes.

 

“Thanks, my Lady,” he gasps out, grinning.

 

She stares at him for a moment. She can feel the dried tears on her cheek, and a new one slipping out of one eye, burning hot against her skin. She feels herself take a shuddering breath.

 

Once again, she feels oddly disconnected from herself. She's sure she isn’t moving her hand, but there’s her glove, red and spotted against his cheek while he smiles at her.

 

“Are you okay?” she whispers. “Like, _really_ okay?”

 

“Good as new.”

 

He has the audacity to wink.

 

She bursts into tears again. He starts to panic, but he doesn't have time to do or say anything before she throws her arms around him and crushes him in an embrace unlike any he’s ever had before. It takes him a moment, but he get his arms moving and winds them around her waist. He’d pull her closer if he could, because he loves her, and because he’s always dreamed of doing it -- and because, truth be told, that was actually really scary for him -- but she’s got him so tightly that there isn’t anyway she _could_ get closer.

 

After a long time, she sniffs loudly and pulls back. “Don’t ever do that again,” she tells him. It’s meant to be severe, but there are tears glittering on her lashes and she’s smiling.

 

“No promises, bugaboo.”

 

“You _will_ promise.”

 

“I mean, in my defense, I didn’t know it was you. But I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Marinette either.”

 

“I don’t care who it is! I’m serious, Chat, don’t ever --”

 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” The shrill voice interrupts from behind her and Marinette suddenly remembers that they aren’t alone.

 

She cringes and looks over her shoulder. _“You’re_ Ladybug?”

 

If Chloé’s phased by the twin glares she’s getting from Paris’s favourite children, it doesn’t show. “I can’t believe I idolized _you_. You are so lame!”

 

Ladybug’s glare deepens. “You’re the one who’s lame! Chat almost died because you caused _another_ akuma!”

 

Chloé snorts and rolls her eyes. “Ladybug doesn’t even need Chat Noir.” Then she seems to remember she knows who Ladybug is. “No, wait --” Her brow furrows.

 

Marinette’s anger dissipates in the wake of a deeply unsettling sinking feeling. “I guess I better get on damage control,” she says quietly, thinking of what a mess this is going to be. She thinks she should get up, but she’s not quite ready to let go of Chat.

 

But he’s ready.

 

He lurches to his feet -- he’s a little shaky, even if he has been magically brought back from the brink of death -- almost falling on his face.

 

“Listen, Chloé, I’m going to --” he’s interrupted by the beeping of Ladybug’s Miraculous.

 

Marinette’s hand flies up to her earrings.

 

There’s a quiet moment where they both just look at each other, their faces drawn and unsure.

 

“You’d better get out of here, Bug,” Chat says softly.

 

“What difference will it --”

 

“Look, I’ll talk to the class. I didn’t use my Cataclysm. I have time.”

 

“But --”

 

“Seriously, Ladybug, you don’t need this right now.”

 

“Neither do you! You just --” _died._ She doesn’t finish the sentence out loud.

 

“I’ll handle it.” He insists. “You get out of here.”

 

She hesitates. Her earrings beep again.

 

She’s not sure why she agrees, but there’s something in his voice that convinces her. “Okay,” she says. Then more certain, and more sad: “okay.”

 

She crushes him in one last hug before she goes. “Stay out of trouble this time.”

 

He grins. “No promises.”

 

She glares. “We are going to talk later, mister.”

 

“Now _that_ I can promise.”


	2. here

Marinette doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t know what Chat’s doing either. She likes to think he’s tossing Chloé into the Renaissance Faire fountain, but she thinks it’s unlikely.

 

She thinks of texting Alya, but she doesn’t know what she’d say.

 

Tikki tries to talk to her, but she doesn’t know what to say back to the kwami. She can’t seem to make sense of anything right now.

 

She goes through a mental list of her classmates, trying to count the people who saw her transform.

 

Not a classmate, but Chat, obviously.

 

Alya, of course.

 

Nino.

 

Chloé.

 

Rose. Juleka. Kim. Ivan. Max.

 

Mylène, Nathaniel, Alix are on the ‘no’ list. So is Sabrina.

 

And Adrien.

 

She can’t decide if she’s happy or sad about the last one.

 

She also can’t decide what she thinks Alya’s going to say. Will she be mad that she didn’t know sooner? Or will she just fangirl all the time now?

 

Marinette doesn’t want her relationship with her best friend to change.

 

It’s strange how when her mind says ‘best friend’, it conjures up a picture of Chat next to Alya’s.

 

But she supposes he is.

 

She was devastated to lose him. She’s still devastated, even if he _is_ back. Her best friend all but died in her arms today. She’s not okay.

 

She loves him, she realizes, all in a rush.

 

Still not in a romantic way, of course, but her thoughts from earlier are echoing in her ears.

 

_I can't live without him._

 

The end of Chat Noir would be the end of Ladybug. That's just how it is.

 

_There’s no such thing as a coin with only one side._

 

She loves him.

 

It’s a long time before he comes to see her. Marinette doesn’t go back to school that day, but she watches from her window, waiting for the streams of teenagers to dissipate. She picks out her classmates one at a time from the crowd. It’s not till the school and the surrounding streets are empty that she crawls up to the roof. She’s been wanting to go up all afternoon, but she hadn’t wanted anyone to see her.

 

Sometimes she hates living next door to the school.

 

She curls up on her deck chair and looks at the clouds. She tells her mother she’s not feeling hungry and doesn’t go down for dinner. Though she doesn’t know the details, her mother seems to understand that something is off and leaves her be. Chat appears just after the sun’s gone down.

 

The stars are starting to come out.

 

She’s been waiting for him all day, but once he’s there, she just doesn’t know what to do.

 

So she stays in her chair and hugs her knees, looking anywhere but into his eyes.

 

“Hey,” he says, breathlessly, perching on the railing with ease.

 

“Hey,” she replies, looking down.

 

There’s a long pause. Then, “are you okay, Marinette?”

 

“I’m fine. Are you?” She finally dares to look at him, and she wonders if he can see how desperate and fearful her face is.

 

“Am I okay?” He blinks. “Yeah, I mean, I think I would’ve bled out by now if I wasn’t.”

 

She flinches and looks back down.

 

“I mean! Sorry, that’s not funny, is it? I’m fine, Marinette, really.”

 

“I didn’t think you’d remember me,” she says after a pause.

 

“What?”

 

“Me. Marinette, I mean. We’ve only met a couple times. Like this, anyway. I didn’t think you’d remember.”

 

She’s baffled at how he seems stunned by this.

 

“Of course I remember you, Princess,” he says eventually, sidling over to sit beside her. He keeps his distance, and doesn’t touch her. She’s strangely grateful for it, because she feels foreign to herself, and she doesn’t honestly know what she’d do with human contact at the moment.

 

“You’re really okay?” she says again, softly.

 

He takes her hand carefully. She takes a breath.

 

Maybe she can handle human contact after all.

 

He takes two of her fingers in his and presses them to the pulse point on his wrist. “See, my Lady? Still working. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”

 

Marinette blinks at her fingers, then at him. “Okay,” she says, breathing out slowly. It’s the first time she really believes it.

 

He lets go of her hand and they sit quietly for a few minutes.

 

“I talked to your class,” he says after a while. Marinette wonders if he can tell how his words have her whole body tensing up like a stretched rubber band. “They won’t tell.”

 

She stares at him stupidly. “They won’t?”

 

“Nah. They’re good people. Mostly.”

 

She stares at him some more. “What did --” she falters.

 

“Chloé’s brain might actually explode, but even she won’t tell. I think she’s having a hard time reconciling loving Ladybug and hating you,” Chat rambles on. “She doesn’t know which one to do. Hopefully she’ll end up somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and you two can have a normal relationship.”

 

“What? Chloé? No, I mean, what did… what did Alya say?”

 

Chat starts in surprise. “She’s fine? I mean, I’m not really worried about her?”

 

With everything that’s going on in her brain, it doesn’t occur to Marinette that Chat shouldn’t really remember Alya either. Or know about their friendship. Or about her relationship with Chloé.

 

He’s looking at her with a confused frown. “Are _you_ worried about her?”

 

“She’s my best friend,” Marinette says, and she feels like she might cry again. “Aside from you, anyway -- she’s my best normal friend --”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Marinette ignores him. “And she’s always been a huge fan of Ladybug. She runs the Ladyblog, for goodness’ sake. What if she’s mad that I kept it from her?”

 

“She might be, I guess. She seemed okay with it though. She’s more likely to go all crazy fangirl mode on you, I think.”

 

Marinette groans.

 

“What? I thought you didn’t want her to be mad.”

 

“I don’t! But I also don’t want her to be my fan, I want her to be my friend!”

 

“Oh.”

 

They’re quiet again.

 

“How many of them saw?” she asks.

 

“Well, Alya and Chloé, obviously. And Nino and -- well, most of them, actually. Just Nathaniel and Mylène and Sabrina were gone.”

 

Marinette nods, then, “wait, what about Adrien? He wasn’t there, was he?”

 

“Oh, uh, yeah, he didn’t see either, I guess.”

 

She eyes him suspiciously. “Did you even talk to him?”

 

“Of course I did! Don’t worry, he won’t tell.”

 

“I thought you said he didn’t see!”

 

“Uhhhh…”

 

“Oh my gosh!” she buries her face in her hands.

 

“I mean, it’s just one more person,” Chat says. “Out of everyone, I’m pretty sure he’s the least likely to tell your secret.”

 

Marinette has no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but she decides she’ll think about it later. She’s too busy freaking out that Adrien knows she’s Ladybug.

 

She still can’t decide if that’s good or bad.

 

She groans again.

 

“Come on, Bugaboo, it’s not that bad, really. It’s not _ideal_ , but it’s not the end of the world, either.”

 

She glares at him. “Most of my class knows I’m secretly a superhero, including my best friend, the boy I have a crush on, _and_ my worst enemy. How is that _not_ the end of the world?”

 

“...At least there weren’t any news cameras?”

 

“Ugh.”

 

“Wait, did you say ‘boy I have a crush on’?”

 

Marinette feels her face burn. “No!”

 

“You did! Who is it? Is it Kim? Max?”

 

His smile is suddenly _very_ fake.

 

“No!”

 

“Nathaniel?”

 

“No, shut up!”

 

“Nino? Oh, no, he’s taken. Well -- sort of. He’s a good dude though. What about Ivan? No, also taken. What about --”

 

“I’m not telling you anything.” She flushes an even deeper red. She wants to mutter that it’s not like he’s never had a crush before, but she’s afraid he’ll reply with ‘only on you, my Lady’ and letting him down on top of everything else is one thing she just can’t handle tonight.

 

“I’ll figure it out eventually.”

 

“Whatever, kitty.” The nickname slips out without her thinking about it.

 

He blinks at her, like it’s strange to hear it in the right voice but coming from the wrong face. “Huh,” is all he says.

 

There’s another pause while she continues blushing. Why it’s suddenly embarrassing to call Chat by his normal nickname is beyond her, but she blushes all the same.

 

“I’m glad you’re alright,” she says quietly, after a while.

 

“Thanks to you, my Lady.”

 

Marinette scoffs. “Thanks to me you got hurt in the first place.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m so sorry, Chat,” she says, and she can feel the tears pricking her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t transform right away. I could’ve prevented all of that --”

 

“Everyone would have seen, you were protecting your identity!”

 

“Everyone saw anyway! And you were in trouble! That should be more important than my identity. I should’ve helped right away.” Her voice is rising.

 

So is his. “That’s ridiculous. You’ve always been protective of your identity -- like we’re supposed to be. You’re way more careful than me, and it’s not a bad thing.”

 

“It is a bad thing if you die because of it!” Her explosion seems to take all the anger out of the moment, deflating in a split second like a popped balloon. Marinette looks down. She sees, more than feels, a tear drop from her eye into her lap. “Being Ladybug is pointless if you’re not Chat Noir. I couldn’t do this without you.”

 

Chat blinks. She doesn’t know, of course, that nobody’s ever said anything like that to him before. She doesn’t know that he’s never felt so wanted or needed or _loved_ before in his life.

 

“I wouldn’t even be Ladybug right now if it weren’t for you,” she continues. “I was going to give up, remember? The first day. I wanted to quit and you convinced me I could do this. But I can’t without you.” She swipes at her eyes. “So I’m sorry, and nothing you say will convince me not to be.”

 

“Well then, I forgive you.”

 

“What?”

 

“You can’t keep on being sorry if I forgive you. So I forgive you. Even if I think there’s nothing to forgive.”

 

“You can’t --!” she splutters.

 

“Ladybug,” he says, and it stops her in her tracks. The nicknames were uncomfortable, but ordinary enough. And yet somehow, hearing him say _that_ while she looks like Marinette makes everything a whole lot more real. “This is one thing you can’t stop me from doing.”

 

Her face softens, then she huffs and folds her arms. “I can’t stop you from doing anything stupid.”

 

He considers this. “Mostly true, I guess.”

 

They sit together for another few minutes, until Marinette shifts. “I should go in,” she sighs.

 

But Chat is frowning, looking off into the distance. When she speaks, his head whips around to frown at her.

 

She doesn’t know that he’s piecing it together in his mind. She doesn’t know that he’s going through the list of boys in their class. The list he’d asked her earlier, when he heard the word ‘crush’ and lost his mind. She doesn’t know that he’s ticking off her refusal of every boy in the class but one.

 

“No, wait,” he blurts. “You haven’t told me who you have a crush on.”

 

She raises an eyebrow, looking supremely unimpressed. “Goodnight, Chat,” she tells him, and gets up, moving towards her roof hatch.

 

“No, _wait,”_ he says again.

 

The desperately throbbing ‘wait’ means a hundred different things that he can’t quite make his mouth say because his head is spinning a hundred miles an hour. It means _wait, don’t go._ It means, _wait, I need to say something_ and _I’m sorry for being so blind._ It means _wait, I’m just now catching up, sorry I’m late._ It means, _wait, stay with me. Wait, don’t leave me here before I can tell you. Wait, don’t walk away because I love you. Wait, I don’t want to just be Chat Noir to you. Wait, I can’t live without you._

 

It’s stupid and cheesy and romantic, he thinks. But he can’t. He can’t live without her.

 

She doesn't know why his voice sounds the way it does, and she looks at him with concern.

 

“Chat?”

 

He knows what he wants to say, but he just can’t seem to make his mouth work, so he takes a chance.

 

Right there, under the stars and the sparkling lights of Paris, on Marinette’s balcony where anyone might see, Chat Noir transforms.

 

Marinette flinches away from the bright light, but she can still hear him:

 

“Is it Adrien Agreste, _purr-_ chance?”

 

It’s a good thing he didn’t die earlier because she’s going to kill him, she thinks.

 

Then the light’s gone, and he’s standing there, grinning like the idiot Chat Noir is.

 

Marinette’s eyes go wide. She feels herself breathe in but she doesn’t breathe out.

 

“He’s the only one you didn’t say no to, earlier,” he points out, rubbing the back of his head the way Adrien always does.

 

“You didn’t… ask about him,” Marinette says faintly, turning pink. She feels like she hasn’t blinked in an hour.

 

“Yeah, but you said no to everyone else. He’s the only one left.”

 

“I d-don’t?” she stammers.

 

“Don’t what?” He takes a step forward.

 

She takes an unconscious step back and stumbles. He catches her.

 

“I don’t… have a c-crush… on y-- on Adrien A-agreste?” But she doesn’t sound at all certain. “Wait, _you’re_ Chat Noir?” She can’t quite believe it, but the fuzzy black kwami-looking thing hovering over his shoulder makes it hard to deny.

 

Adrien -- Chat -- no, Adrien -- _what?_ Adrien shares a look with the kwami. “Finally,” the creature says. “I’m Plagg,” he says to Marinette. “Do you have any camembert?”

 

“What?”

 

Adrien rolls his eyes. “I’ve got some right here.” He reaches for his pocket when the hatch opens again and and red blur collides with Plagg.

 

 _“PLAGG!”_ cries a sweet voice. Meanwhile, Marinette nearly jumps out of her skin.

 

“Tikki!” she yelps.

 

“Tikki!” Plagg says.

 

“Tikki?” Adrien asks.

 

The red blur stops so that Adrien can see it’s another kwami. “Oh _hello!_ It’s so good to officially meet you, Adrien! Or should I say Chat?”

 

Adrien grins. Marinette’s heart does a belly flop. “Either one is fine,” he tells her kwami, all charm and smiles. He takes Tikki’s proffered hand between two fingers to shake it. Marinette wonders if this is what a heart attack feels like.

 

Then she wonders if teenagers can have heart attacks.

 

Tikki looks at her. “Uh, me and Plagg can go catch up. You two should probably talk.”

 

Adrien glances back at Marinette too. “We _have_ been talking.” But he frowns in concern when he sees her face.

 

“Yeah, but she looks like she’s going into cardiac arrest,” Plagg points out.

 

Adrien smiles wider than Marinette’s ever seen him smile. It’s a very Chat-like smile. An almost _wicked_ smile. “I think you mean cardiac _Agreste.”_

 

“Oh my gosh! I definitely do not have a crush on you!” she explodes. “Go home, Chat!”

 

She’s opened the hatch before she knows what she’s doing: her mind is only concerned with wondering how she’d never noticed Adrien’s sense of humor before.

 

If she had, she definitely would have figured out he was Chat Noir.

 

Well. Maybe.

 

She can hear him laughing behind her. “Hey, wait, Marinette! Ladybug! I don’t know what to call you now, but wait!”

 

She only waffles for a second before pausing. “What?” she asks acidly.

 

He smiles at her for a moment. Plagg snorts, because Adrien is a lovesick imbecile and he looks like an idiot. But Marinette sees the smile from a completely different angle. She’s looking up at him, with the silver light of the moon slanting through his hair, and the gold light of Paris dappling his cheeks. His smile is brighter than both. She feels herself blushing when she realizes that smile is for her.

 

“Uh,” he does that thing again, where he rubs the back of his head. He seems nervous. He’s blushing. Marinette wonders absently why he’s blushing when that’s actually her job.

 

“I’m in love with you,” he blurts, and she nearly falls through the hatch. Tikki squeaks. Plagg makes a sort of gagging noise.

 

There’s a blur of movement and then Tikki and Plagg are gone. If Marinette or Adrien had been paying attention, they could have heard the pair bickering from where Tikki had tackled Plagg into the leaves of a potted plant.

 

“You’re what?” If Marinette could strangle herself, she would. _Tell him you love him too!_ her brain screams. But all she can think of is terrible puns and black spandex and devilish grins and -- oh no.

 

She loves him.

 

Adrien, yes, of course. She’s always loved Adrien. But she loves -- she loves _Chat Noir_ . Chat Noir who she’d always thought of as _absolutely not there is no way he’s ridiculous I would never._

 

“I’m in --” Adrien starts, but she interrupts because her brain has finally caught up and her mouth follows it blindly.

 

“I love you too.”

 

“-- love with -- wait, what?”

 

“What?”

 

“You love…? Me?”

 

“Yes.” Marinette blinks confusedly. “You love _me?”_

 

“Yes,” Adrien says.

 

“This is painful,” comes Plagg’s muffled voice from the plant.

 

“You’re in love with _me_ ,” Marinette says again, trying to convince herself that she’s not dreaming.

 

“I am in love with you,” he confirms. “And you love me.”

 

She blushes bright red, suddenly, but the cat’s out of the bag now. _“Yes.”_

 

He’s still smiling, but she doesn’t notice that she’s smiling back. She doesn’t know that he’s looking at her just like she looked at him. She doesn’t know that the starlight’s in her hair and the streetlights are on her face and her smile is brighter than all of it.

 

“Tikki says we should talk,” he says stupidly.

 

“Yeah,” she replies, stupidly.

 

They don’t talk.

 

Plagg reappears from the plant. “If you two are going to do this all night, may I be excused?”

 

“Yeah,” Adrien says, without looking at him.

 

Plagg flies up and hovers nearby expectantly. When Adrien continues to not look at him, he darts into the boy’s pocket and emerges with the cheese he’d been promised ages ago. He and Tikki disappear through the hatch, but not before Tikki plants a sweet kiss on Marinette’s cheek.

 

Marinette giggles, and Adrien thinks he’s doing what Plagg calls ‘mooning around’.

 

Tikki looks at him and she giggles too. He doesn’t know why. Then she’s gone, and the hatch shuts with a click.

 

Adrien steps forward. Marinette is frozen. He reaches out slowly, taking one of her hands in his. She takes a deep breath when she feels his hesitant fingers brush against hers. She smooths a lock of golden, star-lit hair out of his eyes.

 

“So,” she says.

 

“So,” he says.

 

“Where do we start?”

 

“Here,” he answers.

 

“What?”

 

“Here.”

 

“What do y--”

 

He kisses her.

 

 _“Here,”_ he breathes. “We should start here.”


End file.
